Lifeways Community Care (Swindon)

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• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

We reviewed 3 quality statements relating to capable and compassionate leaders, governance, management and sustainability and learning, improvement and innovation. Staff still raised some concerns with us about management oversight in some services. Although there had now been some improvement in management oversight, this had not been fully embedded at the time of the assessment. However, we found there had now been an improvement in relation to learning, improvement and innovation. Leaders had also reflected on previous practices and had introduced new initiatives to make the service more effective.

This service scored 64 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Shared direction and culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

Some staff raised concerns about people not being able to access activities they enjoyed which was not in line with current best practice guidance, and they felt this was because management was not always present to monitor and “...motivate staff”. Leaders told us they felt staff were motivated to provide activities that people enjoyed, and they confirmed more oversight would be available on-site when managers had settled in their roles. A new registered manager and service manager had been recruited and after a period of reflection leaders told us, “There had been a change in the recruitment and induction process to ensure managers had the right skills and support to be successful in their roles.” Staff who had long- term management in place were now positive about the communication and support they received. Overall, staff told us they knew who to contact if they had any concerns.

At the last assessment we found concerns raised by staff had not been acted on by management. This had improved at this assessment, and we saw evidence of concerns raised being acted upon and addressed.

We did not look at Freedom to speak up during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

We did not look at Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

Staff were knowledgeable about the audits they needed to complete. Leaders told us new managers were in the process of learning the systems and audits. They confirmed the arrangements in place to ensure experienced staff were available to support newer members of staff with daily audits. Leaders told us audits were completed by a range of people depending on their role. For example, staff completed daily checklists in areas such as health and safety and finances and team leaders audited these weekly. Service managers and area managers reviewed audits monthly and set up action plans where needed. A quarterly review of audits was completed by the Regional Director to provide additional oversight.

Overall, we now found there had been an improvement in the audits taking place. Since the last assessment, the provider had added a digital oversight quality dashboard to their system to manage audits more effectively. This allowed leaders and the quality team to view audits being completed. The system identified when audits were overdue by sending emails to leaders to prompt them to be completed.

We did not look at Partnerships and communities during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

Staff told us there had now been improvements in some of the services since the last assessment. One staff member told us, “They have definitely implemented changes since the last inspection and kept them going. They try to get our ideas about how it’s working or if we need anything else.” Leaders told us they had reflected on what had not worked in the past and had arranged for the new service manager to be on-site for 4 days a week to better provide the oversight and leadership needed.

The provider had introduced new initiatives since the last assessment. For example, there had been an increase in meetings for staff to meet with leaders and a consultation had taken place with team leaders which led to a programme of development and support for their role.